The Pontiac 6000STE stands head and shoulders above every other Detroit sedan, including its fellow General Motors front-drive A-cars. It is a sedan that can hold its head high in any automotive society. We expected Buick’s new Electra T Type to mount a serious challenge to the STE, but the Buick people couldn’t quite bring themselves to go all the way with their new Eurosedan. The Buick has roadability and performance to match the Pontiac’s, but it lacks the Pontiac’s sophisticated instrumentation and enthusiast-oriented interior appointments. The Pontiac emerges as winner and still champion for the third year in a row.

There is a rightness about the STE that sets it apart from all of its American brothers. It even looks better than the other GM cars that share the same sheetmetal. It was a startlingly good car in its first year, 1983, and it has only improved in each of the two years following. One thinks of the original GTO, the original Buick Riviera, the 1963-67 Corvette Sting Ray—all cars that sprang to life fully formed and ready to take on the best—and one knows that the 6000STE has taken its place in good company.